In a recent interview with GQ Magazine, Childish Gambino says his hit, βThis Is America,β was originally a Drake diss.Β Gambino decided to take the song more seriously as it developed.Β βI had that idea three years before,β Glover said of the 2018 record. βThe idea for the song started as a joke, to be completely honest. βThis is America,β that was all we had β that line. And it started as a Drake diss, to be honest, as like a funny way of doing it. But then I was like, this sh_t sounds kind of hard, though.βGambino says the song and video came together after studying Michael Jacksonβs βThrillerβ video and Young Thug, who has a writing credit on the song, advised to make a βWe Are The Worldβ type of song for Hip-Hop.Β